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Orientations | Volume 55 Number 5 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 2017. Other textiles from Cave 17 form the basis of a collaboration between the British Museum and the China National Silk Museum and Zhejiang University, China, introduced in an article by Zhao Feng. The journey continues westwards, braving the formidable Taklamakan Desert, encountering kingdoms and settlements of the Tarim Basin. A fragment of a wall painting from Kocho (Gaochang), near Turpan along the northern route skirting the desert, portrays Manichean electi, or clerics, dressed in distinctive white priestly robes and headgear (fig. 5). The Uyghurs of Kocho adopted Manichaeism, a religion that spread from Mesopotamia and found converts along the Silk Roads during the period 500 to 1000. In the southwest region of the Tarim Basin lay the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan (c. 100s BCEBCE – 1006 CECE). A famous painted wood votive panel records the legend of how sericulture was brought to this region via a resourceful princess who hid silkworm eggs and mulberry tree seeds in her headdress. From Khotan, the journey moves to Central Asia and a series of three case studies. The first features the Sogdians, who were renowned traders active in many parts of Eurasia until their assimilation into the Islamic world in the 8th century. This section features major loans from Uzbekistan, including a 6-metrelong portion of the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’ wall painting from Samarkand that reveals the Sogdians’ view of their central place in regional and wider networks. The representation of silk in this remarkable wall painting is discussed in an article by the exhibition’s project curator, Zumrad Ilyasova. The next case study introduces Buddhism in the nearby region of Tokharistan, formerly Bactria, which flourished under the dominance of Turkic forces that expanded from the Mongolian Plateau. This section features sculptures from Tajikistan that reflect the legacy of Gandharan and Gupta art from the Indian subcontinent in Central Asia (fig. 6). The journey then turns north via river systems to reach the Vikings of Scandinavia, who traded enslaved peoples to the Islamic world in exchange for silver dirhams. The widespread practice of slavery between 500 and 1000, a darker side of the Silk Roads, is acknowledged in the exhibition. Returning to a larger geographic zone, the rise of Islam in Arabia and Arab conquests rapidly created a vast empire that by the early 700s stretched from Pakistan to Spain. This period saw a flourishing of intellectual activity among scholars, who often 6 Bodhisattva figure Excavated at Ajina-Tepa, Vakhsh Valley Tajikistan; 7th–8th century Clay; height 75 cm, width 35 cm National Museum of Tajikistan, Dushanbe Photo © State Institution ‘National Museum’ of the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan travelled in search of patronage. A map based on an original from around 1152, produced by al-Idrisi (act. 1154), a Muslim scholar from al-Andalus, for the Christian king of Sicily, Roger II (r. 1130–54), reflects important earlier developments in cartography (fig. 7). It is a map of the world that encompasses Asia, Europe, and Africa, and is orientated with south on top and the Muslim holy city of Mecca at the centre. 22
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7 Map of the world from Nuzhat al-mushtaq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq (Book of Pleasant Journeys into Faraway Lands, also known as the ‘Book of Roger’) Possibly Cairo, Egypt; 1553 copy of original by al-Idrisi, c. 1152 Ink and colours on paper; 30 × 50 cm The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford Photo © The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford The exhibition’s journey continues to the northeast coast of Africa, the Mediterranean, and Europe, but the presence of Asia does not end here, as evidenced by the Buddha figure found in Sweden and in material culture as far afield as Britain. The British Museum’s ‘Silk Roads’ exhibition is unprecedented in its epic scale and chronological focus. It offers an unmissable opportunity to explore the fruits and perils of contact and exchange that took place across Afro-Eurasia in the period 500 to 1000, long before the high-speed, connected life we live today. Yu-ping Luk is the Basil Gray Curator: Chinese Paintings, Prints and Central Asian Collection, Asia Department, British Museum ‘Silk Roads’ will be on view 26 September 2024–23 February 2025 at the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery, British Museum. Supported by The Huo Family Foundation Additional supporters James Bartos The Ruddock Foundation for the Arts Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation Bibliography Sue Brunning, Luk Yu-Ping, Elisabeth R. O’Connell and Tim Williams, Silk Roads, London, 2024. 23

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Orientations | Volume 55 Number 5 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024

2017. Other textiles from Cave 17 form the basis of a collaboration between the British Museum and the China National Silk Museum and Zhejiang University, China, introduced in an article by Zhao Feng.

The journey continues westwards, braving the formidable Taklamakan Desert, encountering kingdoms and settlements of the Tarim Basin. A fragment of a wall painting from Kocho (Gaochang), near Turpan along the northern route skirting the desert, portrays Manichean electi, or clerics, dressed in distinctive white priestly robes and headgear (fig. 5). The Uyghurs of Kocho adopted Manichaeism, a religion that spread from Mesopotamia and found converts along the Silk Roads during the period 500 to 1000. In the southwest region of the Tarim Basin lay the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan (c. 100s BCEBCE – 1006 CECE). A famous painted wood votive panel records the legend of how sericulture was brought to this region via a resourceful princess who hid silkworm eggs and mulberry tree seeds in her headdress.

From Khotan, the journey moves to Central Asia and a series of three case studies. The first features the Sogdians, who were renowned traders active in many parts of Eurasia until their assimilation into the Islamic world in the 8th century. This section features major loans from Uzbekistan, including a 6-metrelong portion of the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’ wall painting from Samarkand that reveals the Sogdians’ view of their central place in regional and wider networks. The representation of silk in this remarkable wall painting is discussed in an article by the exhibition’s project curator, Zumrad Ilyasova.

The next case study introduces Buddhism in the nearby region of Tokharistan, formerly Bactria, which flourished under the dominance of Turkic forces that expanded from the Mongolian Plateau. This section features sculptures from Tajikistan that reflect the legacy of Gandharan and Gupta art from the Indian subcontinent in Central Asia (fig. 6). The journey then turns north via river systems to reach the Vikings of Scandinavia, who traded enslaved peoples to the Islamic world in exchange for silver dirhams. The widespread practice of slavery between 500 and 1000, a darker side of the Silk Roads, is acknowledged in the exhibition.

Returning to a larger geographic zone, the rise of Islam in Arabia and Arab conquests rapidly created a vast empire that by the early 700s stretched from Pakistan to Spain. This period saw a flourishing of intellectual activity among scholars, who often

6 Bodhisattva figure Excavated at Ajina-Tepa, Vakhsh Valley Tajikistan; 7th–8th century Clay; height 75 cm, width 35 cm National Museum of Tajikistan, Dushanbe Photo © State Institution ‘National Museum’ of the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan travelled in search of patronage. A map based on an original from around 1152, produced by al-Idrisi (act. 1154), a Muslim scholar from al-Andalus, for the Christian king of Sicily, Roger II (r. 1130–54), reflects important earlier developments in cartography (fig. 7). It is a map of the world that encompasses Asia, Europe, and Africa, and is orientated with south on top and the Muslim holy city of Mecca at the centre.

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